THRESH & WINNOW AMERICAN SINGLE MALT
Limited Release Single Cask #3991 (2024)MASH BILL – 100% organic malted barley
PROOF – 100
AGE – 8 years
DISTILLERY – Lion’s Pride Spirits (Koval)
PRICE – $98
WORTH BUYING? – Yes
When I saw the Thresh & Winnow Rye and Single Malt whiskeys pop up on the K&L website, the descriptions left me unclear whether they were Koval products or contract-distilled efforts produced by Thresh & Winnow, a brand I’d not heard of before. Intrigued by the age and grain specs, I bought the rye.
A close inspection of its label revealed it was distilled and bottled by Lion’s Pride Spirits—also a brand I’d not heard of. No amount of poking around the Koval or Thresh & Winnow websites revealed any mention of Lion’s Pride Spirits. As I write this, Lion’s Pride is still without a website, save the words “coming soon” in tiny font if you happen to manually enter “lionspridespirits.com” into Google.
That rye was an impressive, mature craft whiskey. Its complexity featured typical “crafty” elements of grain and raw pine with classic cream and vanilla notes found in the best traditional American whiskeys. There was an overall wildness to it that nevertheless came across with intention and finesse.
Having really liked the rye, I eventually decided to give the single malt a go as well. It comes in the same ornate bottle, collared with an incongruously minimalist label. Would the single malt offer an experience as unique and accomplished as the rye?
Here we are, almost a week after uncorking and four pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – soft, deep, subtly russet oranges
NOSE – fresh pine, cinnamon, brown and white sugar crystals, cream, subtle maple, white sugar frosting
TASTE – a syrupy texture, the flavors very true to the nose only a notch darker and deeper, the creamy white sugar frosting and pine vying for center stage
FINISH – even darker pine, the baking spices, oak and subtle oak tannin
OVERALL – a unique American single malt, highlighting unexpected pine notes and old-fashioned confectionary notes
This is very reminiscent of the Thresh & Winnow Rye, to the point that if you poured me a glass and told me it was the rye I’d believe you. It’s the pine notes in particular, which I’d assumed came from the organic rye grain. As the single malt is made from 100% barley, I now wonder if it’s the yeast at work? Or maybe the barreling?
I wish I still had some of the rye around to compare. In any case, taken on its own as an American Single Malt, this whiskey is a unique pour. The sugary confectionary notes taste very old-fashioned, like a bakery still doing things old-school, with lots of granulated sugars, sprinkles, and frostings on their cookies, cakes, and pastries.
The pine aspect will be divisive. Pine always is, like the dill notes that show up in some rye whiskeys. I appreciate pine myself, having grown up surrounded by a variety of pine trees. I know the aromas of their needles from their cones, their cones from their bark. I know them in all four seasons, wet, dry, cold, or hot. This whiskey’s pine notes have a bright, high-elevation mountain quality to them. My sense memory goes to the trails of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains above Lake Tahoe, where the air is thin but fragrant and bright with a variety of pine.
As I write this, K&L still has a few cases of this whiskey left, and it’s gone on sale for 25% off what I paid. So if what I’ve described appeals to you, I’d say go for it. A pour of this could make a tasty dessert on its own, or a fitting sip alongside frosted carrot or pumpkin cookies. I could see it pairing well with leafy rustic salads. At a picnic in the mountains it could be great. Especially on sale, it’s a no-brainer buy for fans of quality craft and American single malt whiskeys.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 